Take-up reel



F. H. H. FOSS July 24, 1951 TAKE-UP REEL 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb.2'7, 1950 Inventor: Hem 4w bo 055, AW

F. H. H. FOSS July 24, 195] TAKE-UP REEL 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb.2'7, 1950 1951 F. H. H. Foss 2,562,028

TAKE-UP REEL Filed Feb. 27, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 F154. I j 50 5/450 51;ii

,reel was used on high lift hoists.

Patented July 24,- 1951 TAKE-UPYREEL' Ferdinand H. H. Foss, Chicago,Ill., assignor to United States Steel Company, acorporation of NewJersey Application February 27, 1950, Serial No. 146,475

The present invention relates to a takei-upreel and more particularly toa take-up reel for winding the magnet cableof a magnethoistingapparatus.

Prior to my invention, one of two types of cable take-up reels wasgenerally used for handling the magnetpower cable of lifting magnets. Inboth types, one end of the magnet cable was connected to the liftingmagnet while its other end was attached to the winding drum of a take-upreel, which, reel was mounted on the hoisttruck adjacent the hoist drum.n 7 H The one type of reel was connected with and positivelydriven bythelift hoist gearing with the speed of rotation of the take-up drumapproximately equal to the lift hoist speed. When this arrangement wasused, there was always prescut the danger of the power cable pullingapart and causing the power to the magnet to be out 01f if the cable wascaught on an obstruction or if itbecame entangled while the magnet wasbeing lifted. 7 Frequently, Was the power cable be- .gan to pile up inlayers around the take-up drum,

it would travel at a rate of speed greater than that of the lift cableraising the hook block. This would cause the power cable to become tautand eventually pull apart, causing a power failure. The perilous natureof such a power failure when the magnet was lifting a load of materialis obvious. Although some slack was allowed in the magnet cable in anattempt to reduce the possibility of such accidentsoccurring, theresults were never fully satisfactory.

4 Claims. (c1. 254-185) ..Figure 3 is a longitudinal-sectional viewtaken onthe line III-III of Figure 2;

. .Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on the lineIVIV of Figure 3;and

Figure 5isan elevation, partly in section, taken on the line VV ofFigure 4.

Referring more particularly to the drawings,

reference numeral 2 indicates a hoist truck mounted for travel :on'anoverhead track 4. A

hoist .drum 6, having av gear 8 fixedly attached toone end thereof, isrotatably mounted on the truck. The ear 8,.is driven to rotate the hoistdrum by a motor it through pinion :2, gear l4 and pinion It. A liftcable It, which supports a hook block 20, is wound around the hoist drum6. The hook block 20 supports a lift magnet 22 and is raised or lowered'by rotation of the hoist drum 6. A power cable 24 is attached at oneend of themagnet so as to provide energizing current thereto. The cable24 extends upwardly from the magnet to the take-up reel which is thesubject of my invention. The cable 24 is securely fixed to thehookblockimmediately above the magnet as at 25 so as to eliminate any strainthereon by the weight of the magnet itself.

The apparatus thus far described is conven-, tional except for the novelmagnet power cable take-up reel 26 which is mounted on a supportingplate 28 affixed to the truck 2 by means of columnar supports 9 adjacentthe hoist drum 6 and a which will now be described. Reference numeralbreakage ofthe springs, particularly when the I may be resilientlyconnected with and driven by the gearing of a hoist mechanism.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a magnetcable take-up reel, to be used in conjunction with a hoist mechanism,which will automatically cease winding during a hoisting operation ifthe cable becomes taut or is otherwise impeded.

These and other objects will be more apparent after referring to thefollowing specification and attached drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view showing the reel of the invention connected withconventionalhoisting apparatus; a

Figure 2 is an end elevation, partly in section, of the apparatus shownin Figure 1;

30 indicates a rotatable shaft mounted on the plate 28 with its endssupported by spaced bearings32 and 34. A gear 36, having gear teeth 38on its periphery and gear teeth 40 on its one face, is rotatably mountedon shaft 30 with its smooth face adjacent the bearing 32. Gear 36 isdriven by the hoist drum gear 8 through pinions 42 and 44 which arekeyed on a shaft 46. A ratchet 48, having notches on its periphery andgear teeth 52 and 54 on its two side faces, respectively, is rotatablymounted on the shaft 30 adjacent the gear 36 with its teeth52 in meshwiththe gear teeth 40 of gear 38. A counterweighted pawl 56 is pivotallymounted adjacent ratchet G8 on a columnar stand 58 ailixed at its baseto the supporting plate 28. The pawl 56 cooperates with the notches 50to prevent movement of ratchet 48 in the counterclockwise direction, asshown in Figure 4. However, the pawl 56 may be positioned to preventmovement of the ratchet in either the clockwise or counterclockwisedirection, depending on the direction of rotation of shaft 30 whenwinding up the cable 24.

A gear 66, having gear teeth 62 on one side face and a circular groove'34 in its other face, is splined to shaft .343 adjacent ratchet $8. Theteeth62 on the face'of the gear are adapted to mesh jwiththe teeth 54 onthe face of ratchet ,48. A spring seat 66, having a circular groove 68in one face thereof, is threaded on the shaft sary to compensate forweight differences b'e-'- tween long and short cables. If suchadjustmeats were *nfit made, the weight of 'a long" cable could producethe same effect on the gearing a cable entangled by an obstructionfthatis, cause the gears to s'l'ipins'tead of winding up the reel. Therefore,the compressive force of the spring is increased for long lengths ofcable {and decreased for short lengths. The a 's'plined attachment forgear (it permits it to move enemy of shaft 3% but restricts, byjmeans ofa feather key 12, its 'rotative movementto rotation with shaft 36. Atake-up drum i4 is keyed to shaft 33 adjacent the bearing 34. One end ofcable is securely attached to the surface of the take-up drum id as atT5 so that it may be 'wou-nd thereon when the shaft and drum 'M rotate.

In operation, when hoisting, the driving power for the take-up reel issupplied by pinion Z2 meshing with the hoist gear 8 and pinion H meshingwith g ar 3 5. The gearing is so =pr'oportioned that the peripheralspeed-of the takeup drum M is slightly faster than the speed of the bookblock 20. This permits the take-up drum in to wind 'up'the magnet cable24 faster than the hook block lifts which causes the 'c'a-.

bl'e at to become taut. The tension thus created in cable 2'4 causes theteeth '62 on gear '50 to slip over one tooth space on ratchet 18. Whenthis occurs, the tension is relieved. Each time pull on the magnet cableexceeds the compressive holding power of the spring iii, the teeth 62 ongear t0 slip ever "the teeth at on ratchet 88 and thereby eliminate all"s'e'ver'e strain on the magnet cable, During the entire hoistingoperation, pawl 56 idles over the teeth 5lfion the periphery of ratchet48.

When lowering, the pinion 44 rotates "the gear 3&3 but the ratchet 4B isprevented from rotating by the pawl 55. Therefore, the teeth "4'0 on theface of gear 36 push against and slip over the teeth 52 on ratch Ail bycompressing the spring 7B. Thus, all the driving force between thepinion 44 and the shaft 3'9 is locked out automatically by the action ofthe pawl E's-on ratchet 48. However, since the lower end of magnet cable24 is securely fastened to the hook block 2!), the weight of the blockpulls down on the magnet cable, rotating the drum 14 and shaft 30. Sincegear 69 is resiliently and not rigidly in mesh with stationary ratchet'48, the teeth 62 thereon click and slip over the teeth 54 on ratchet48.

From this description it is apparent that during the entire hoistingoperation the magnet cable is resiliently pulled so that if "the cablestrikes a snag or is otherwise impeded it will not be drawn up taut tothe breaking point.

While one embodiment of my invention has been shown and described, itwill be apparent Spring 1!), by bearing against the vI claim; v, V. V jA take-up reel for cableand the like comprising a rotatable shaft, aratchet having teeth on its periphery rotatably mounted on said shaft,

that other adaptations and modifications may -a-paw1 associated withsaid ratchet for preventing movement thereof in one direction, gearteeth onboth side faces of said ratchet, a gear rotatably in'ur'itedonsaid shaft adjacent said ratchet, gear teeth on the face of said gearadjacent said ratchet, means for driving said gear,

a second gear mounted on said shaft adjacent said ratchet on the sidethereof opposite the first named gear, said 'second gear being splinedto sa'id sha'ft, gearteeth on the f'ace or said secand gear adjacent'said' ratch'et, resilient hi'ea'ns bearing against said second gear foryieldably holding the same in mesh with said ratchet, and "a take iipdrum keyed on said shaft.

"2. A take-up reel as defined claim 1 which said resilient meansi-nciili'les a seatthread'ed on said 'shaft and spaced from said splinedgear, and a compression spring-sarrodnding said "shaft-With one end beain; agaihst'said splinedgear and its other and bearing against saidspring seat. p i

hoisting mechanism including a hoist for a magnet and a take up r'eelfor "a'cable connected to the magnet, the combination comprising arotatable shaft, a ratchet having teeth on its periphery rotatably onsaid shaft, a pawl associated with said atchet for preventing movementtl'iere'o'f in one direction, gear teeth on both side faces orsaid-ratchet, a gear rotatably mounted on shaft adiacentsaidrat'chet,gear teeth on the face of said gear adjacent said ratchet, a driving"connection between said hoist drum a-n'd said 'g'e' fa second gearnionnt'ed ons'aid shaft adjacent s d ratchet on "the side thereofopposite the st named gear, said second gear being 'splined "to saidshaft, gear teeth on the face or said seeond j-gear adjacent saidratchet, resilient means bearing against said second gear holding'th'esame in mesh with said ratchet, and a take-up drum keyed on said shaft.

4. In hoisting mechanism including a hoist "drum for a magnet and *atake-up real for a ca- "ble connected to the magnet, the combinationcomprising a rotatable shaft, a ratchet having teeth on its peripheryrotatably 'i-ndfifitd' on said shaft, a pawl associated with saidratchet for preventing movement thereof in o e direction, gear teeth onboth side-faces of sai'd 'r atchet, a gear ro'tatably moiinted "on saidshaft [adjacent said ratchet, gear teeth 'on 'the face er said gearadjacent said ratchet, a driving connection between said hoist drum andsaid gear, a sec- 'ond 'gear mounted on said sha-ft adjacent saidratchet on the side "thereof opposite the named gear, said second gearbeing --splined to said shaft, gear teeth on the face of said seconegear adjacent said ratchet, the other "face of 'said second gear havinga enemargroove therein, a spring seat having circular groove on "itsface threaded on said shaft with its grooved face facing said secondgear, a "compres- -"sions piing surrounding said shaft with-enema seatedin the groove in said spring seat and its other end seated in the grooveof and bearing "against said second gear "for 'y ieldably holding thesecond gear in mesh with said ratchet, "and a take-up drum keyed on saidshaft." 1

e PERI-DEMAND FOSS.

No references cited.

Certificate of Correction Patent N 0. 2,562,028 7 July 24, 1951FERDINAND H. H. FOSS- It is hereby certified that error appears in theprinted specification of the above numbered patent requiring correctionas follows:

Column 1, line 22, for was read as; column 2, line 30, for 9 read 29;column 3, line 54, for ratch read ratchet;

and that the said Letters Patent should be read as corrected above, sothat the same may conform to the record of the case in the PatentOflice.

Signed and sealed this 16th day of October, A. D. 1951.

THOMAS F. MURPHY, .7

Assistant Oommz'ssioner of Patents.

